.NET Framework vs. .NET Core / Modern .NET
Both are written '.NET' on a resume, but they are different generations. .NET Framework (2002) runs only on Windows and stopped getting new features at version 4.8. .NET Core (2016) is the cross-platform rewrite, renamed plain '.NET' from version 5 onward — so '.NET 8' is the modern one and '.NET 4.8' is the old one, despite the smaller number. A JD for a modern .NET role wants Core-era experience; years spent only on Framework are a real but smaller head start.
How to tell them apart on a resume
.NET Framework
ASP.NET Web Forms, WCF, MVC 5, VB.NET, IIS, Windows Server, version numbers like 3.5 or 4.x — often long-running internal systems at banks, insurers or services companies.
.NET Core / Modern .NET
ASP.NET Core, .NET 6/8/9, minimal APIs, Blazor, Docker, Linux, Azure, microservices — newer products or a migration project.
The question that settles it
“Which .NET version were your recent projects on — Framework 4.x, or .NET Core / .NET 6 and later — and did you do any migration between them?”
Read the full definitions
Open the full tool for the other look-alike pairs, role profiles, and the JD decoder.